Is it just me or does anyone else feel a little healthier this week?
Sure, my legs were a little sore on the days that I taught and coached, but other than that I couldn’t complain too much. Apparently, I’m not alone.
A national study released Tuesday revealed that San Benito County is the third healthiest county in California, behind well-to-do Marin and Santa Clara.
That’s right, we’re better than you, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties! What’s that? You have miles of beautiful coastline and great restaurants?
Well, the report from the University of Wisconsin and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation says we’re above you in terms of health outcomes – whatever that means.
Actually, according to the Sacramento Bee, what it means is that after looking at a wide variety of factors, including premature death rates, smoking and drinking habits and access to healthy foods and medical care, San Benito is No. 3 out of 56 counties studied. Two small counties were not included because of a lack of data.
So what I take away from the study is that this is a good place to live, and to live long. But we already knew that.
Our humble, off-the-beaten path home is a place where people live as long as they’re supposed to or even die after their statistical time. We love to live! San Benito’s low premature death rate helped our ranking, even if some of the other health factors weren’t so impressive
Our adult smoking rates are well below the national benchmark and our adult obesity rate of 24 percent is one percent below the national norm and right on par with the state rate. We’ve got two McDonald’s, two Taco Bells and a bunch of delicious Mexican restaurants, so forgive us for indulging.
We have a higher percentage of uninsured people than the national benchmark, but we are below the state average in that category. We have more preventable hospital stays and a lower percentage of residents who have attended some college, so the news is not all good.
But we have healthy air, access to health foods – no kidding, it grows all around us – and our high school graduation rate is 12 percent higher than California’s.
This year’s No. 3 ranking is actually a drop of one spot from last year, when San Benito was deemed the second healthiest county in which to live in California. We probably dropped a spot because people from those unhealthier counties moved here to try to catch some of our magic and therefore impacted our ranking.
Maybe people are dying to move here because they believe they will live longer if they do.
We’re not perfect, by any means. Our unemployment rate is often among the highest in the state and our housing market is tepid, at best. A lot of people have to commute out of our healthy county to find a job with a healthy income.
Still, we’re surrounded by hills and farmland. We have a moderate climate and while we don’t have the amenities of larger cities, we are close enough to them to enjoy their restaurants and tourist offerings and still come back to our healthy home.
I, for one, can’t think of a better place to live.
